12-km roadblocks on the AP-7 at the start of the Easter weekend operation in Catalonia

The AP-7 motorway registers this Thursday at noon withholdings at different points that reach 12 kilometers between Granollers and Santa Perpetua de Mogoda (Barcelona) in a northerly direction, coinciding with the operation out for the Easter holidays.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
06 April 2023 Thursday 06:52
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12-km roadblocks on the AP-7 at the start of the Easter weekend operation in Catalonia

The AP-7 motorway registers this Thursday at noon withholdings at different points that reach 12 kilometers between Granollers and Santa Perpetua de Mogoda (Barcelona) in a northerly direction, coinciding with the operation out for the Easter holidays.

There are also 10.5 kilometers of traffic with congestion between Vandellòs and L'Hospitalet de l'Infant (Tarragona) heading south, the Catalan Traffic Service (SCT) has informed in a tweet picked up by Europa Press.

Other affected points are the section between El Papiol and Cerdanyola del Vallès (Barcelona), with 9 kilometers; between Castellví de Rosanes and Castellbisbal (Barcelona), with 8 kilometers; and between Tarragona and Altafulla (Tarragona), with 3.5 kilometers.

To try to minimize accidents on the road, the Mossos d'Esquadra will carry out 1,310 traffic controls between Thursday and Monday, with 1,462 agents activated, given the forecast that there will be some 600,000 cars traveling on the occasion of the Easter holidays.

The controls will be for drugs and alcohol as well as for speed, distractions and the use of seat belts, the deputy general director of traffic management of the Servei Català de Trànsit (SCT), Lourdes Puigbarraca, and the deputy chief from the Mossos general police station, Vicenç Gasulla.

A "staggered" departure operation is planned for the vehicles that already traveled the previous weekend plus those that will do so between Thursday and Friday, and they estimate that between Sunday and Monday some 600,000 vehicles will return to the Barcelona metropolitan area .

The Mossos and Trànsit device will last from Thursday at 3:00 p.m. until Monday at midnight, and delays are expected mainly on the AP-7 motorway, but also on the A-2, C-16, C-17 and the C-32 especially between Thursday and Friday and between Sunday and Monday.

For this reason, Trànsit has prepared "a very important batch of special circulation and traffic management measures" that will affect more than 200 kilometers of track and will focus on special signs and beaconing.

Gasulla and Puigbarraca have called for extreme prudence also in travel already in the place where the holidays are spent, and with regard to the expected retentions they have urged to plan the routes and provide alternative itineraries.

Puigbarraca highlighted as the most important measure during the return operation -- Sunday and Monday -- the installation of three additional lanes on the AP-7 between Montornès del Vallès and Sant Celoni and between Vilafranca del Penedès and Molins de Rei (Barcelona), and there will also be additional lanes on the C-32 between Sant Andreu de Llavaneres and Montgat (Barcelona).

In AP-7, vehicles over 7.5 tons will be restricted between Massanet de la Selva (Girona) and L'Hospitalet de l'Infant (Tarragona) on Friday morning, Sunday and Monday afternoon .

Gasulla recalled that during Holy Week last year there were seven fatalities on Catalan roads, three the first weekend and four the second, while last weekend there were no fatalities.

However, he recalled that other years there have been more accidents on Monday nights after a week without deaths: "It is very premature and therefore we have to be prudent with this data."